The Magic In Between
by shvartzit
Summary: A spin off to Growing Up Magical by Maiokoe ! A collection of short scenes during the lives of Lucy with Igneel and Natsu as a family, join the family as it grows closer together and read about the scenes behind the scenes. AU!family. Luneel. (You kind of have to read Maiokoe's fic before reading this one, but I think it's worth it )
1. The Happy Scale

Lucy did a quick check up over all the kids in her yard. One pink head, three blue heads, one (bright) red head, three white heads, two black heads, and one brunette.

They were getting along just fine (at the moment) and she felt like she could leave them alone for five minutes. Surely nothing horrible will happen if she left them alone for just a few short minutes, right?

"Jellal," the only male bluenette in her yard rushed to her side immediately.

"Is something wrong Ms. Lucy?" The blonde smiled softly at him; no matter how many times she asked, the boy still called her Miss (even after her wedding, which he was present in).

"Nothing is wrong sweetie; I just wanted to ask you to be in charge of everyone for a bit? I just want to go for in for a second, and then I'll be right back." She explained.

He blinked at her and smiled back happily, "Of course, Ms. Lucy. Take your time."

She wasn't going to 'take her time', the group of preteens was just too prone for trouble, but she appreciated the gesture.

Making a bee line to kitchen, Lucy frowned at the pile of dishes in her sink. It wasn't a pile anymore, it was a tiny mountain. But even when it when it was only Igneel's and Natsu's and her dishes, she hated dealing with them, which was why she would wash them later.

Or she could wait until Ig would come back and convince him to do it instead.

So Lucy decided to clean up a bit. She took put a few books back on the shelf, put the TV remote back in its proper place, found Happy's fish toy under the couch, and then took her husband's favorite red hoodie from its current location on the couch (where it was bound to be dirtied in some way) and put it back where it really belonged – the closet.

Satisfied with her half-assed attempt to tidy up the house, Lucy turned to leave the bedroom but stopped as she passed the bathroom.

The door is partially open and out of the corner of her eye she can see the scale peeking from beneath the raised drawers.

Glancing at the door and trying to make out from the sounds around her if one of the kids got inside the house. The silence around her had Lucy dashing to the bathroom ( _what are you doing? It's not as if anyone is here to see you, you weirdo_ Natsu's voice told her in her head).

Pulling the damned scale from its place, Lucy hesitantly stepped onto the scale.

And then she gasped.

 _Did she really gain three pounds since the last time she weighed herself?!_

A soft meow was heard beside her and Lucy's head snapped to the floor to glare at Happy.

" _Meow_ ," He repeated.

"Don't you dare look at me like that, I am _not_ fat!"

The blue cat just looked at her with dark judgmental eyes.

"What is wrong with you, you stupid cat?"

"Luce?" the blonde yelped and jumped in surprise. With all her attention split between her weight and Happy's criticizing stare, she didn't even notice Natsu coming in.

"Natsu, what ar-"

"Why were you talking to Happy? He's a cat, they can't talk you weirdo."

Lucy gaped at the 13 year old in shock for exactly 2.7 seconds before her shock turned to rage.

"You little-!"

And then she chased the pinkette back to the living room. Once she grabbed him she had to tackle him to stop him from running. She was getting too old for all that running….

"What were you doing in my bedroom?"

"Looking for you! Lisanna scraped her knee and Jellal sent me to get a band aid or something because it's my home." Green eyes met with brown and Lucy let go of the boy.

"Go get the first aid kit from the bathroom, I'll go see what happened," she sighed.

Later that day when Igneel was washing the dishes with Lucy drying them, they shared stories of their day and the redhead laughed at what happened.

"Well you can't blame him for being confused Love, you talked to a cat."

She pouted up to the red head and he swooped in to kiss the pout away from her lips, not controlling himself as always happened when she pouted like that.

"You have the most interesting adventures without me Love, I'm a bit jealous."

Lucy giggled, but right then Igneel thought about his beautiful wife chasing his son with flaming cheeks again and he burst out laughing.

"Ig~!"

 ****

 **(O.O)**

 **^^  
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 **Word count: 776**

 **Hi~**

 **So this is the first chapter of The Magic In Between, it's kind of but not really a spin off of the lovely Maiokoe's fic Growing up Magical where Luneel (Lucy/Igneel) was created! AU obviously~**

 **I won't post regularly, mostly because there is no plot line, and it won't always follow Maiokoe's plot line in the original story, she was just kind (and crazy) enough to let me use the setting she created for a pairing that inspired me. Honestly, I might not even be consistent here.**

 **I hope you like those fics here, I'm open to suggestions (BTW this chapter is inspired by PinkFireandGoldenStars' review on the last chapter of GUM, this is dedicated to you and Maiokoe), so if I'm inspired by your idea it might show up here~!**

 **Well I'm pretty sure that's it for now (it's not I forgot stuff, but it's 4:40 am so I think I did pretty good)**

 **See ya soon :)**


	2. That One Time Natsu Tried to Race

Lucy and Igneel were snuggled on the couch together; it was a Friday night, and both of them wanted a bit of quiet alone time. Of course, Igneel fell asleep over thirty minutes ago, completely exhausted at the end of another week of work, and Lucy thanked whatever God was in the sky that she had a book within reach, so now she was tucked into her husband's side, a glass of wine in one hand and her book in the other.

It was moments like this one that made her really happy. How could she ever think of denying both of them something like this? What was she even thinking, refusing to give this wonderful man a chance?

She clearly wasn't thinking at all, but that didn't matter now; she eventually caved (although it _was_ under questionable circumstances), and the rest is history, as the saying goes.

But her happiness was always being tested; Natsu Dragion seemed too have made it his life mission to give her a heart attack, and luckily for all three Dragions, he has yet to be successful.

Now seventeen years old, Natsu was just as big a troublemaker as he was at seven years old; only now he had a car.

Lucy despised that damned car, and nothing could sway her opinion on the vehicle. Natsu was unbelievable behind the wheel, there was nothing he loved more than driving, but unfortunately his exceptional abilities made the teenager develop something bordering on obsession when it came to his car and his own limits.

He raced illegally in the streets.

Gajeel was his 'mechanic' and Gray his manager, and together the three ( _idiotic_ ) boys all but devoted their lives to the races.

Lucy only found out about it because one night when Igneel was out on a business trip for a week about a month ago, she got a call from the police, telling her that her step son and his friends were in custody and that she needs to come to the station and bail them out.

Obviously the moment the furious blonde got her hands on them, they spilled everything, and if she wasn't in the parking lot of a police station she would have strangled them right then.

However, the three teenagers survived to live another day. The car keys were confiscated, and they were only allowed to drive to school and back, or on errands and being timed.

This meant that the noise of keys in the hallway was actually the giveaway of Natsu was trying to sneak out and race again.

"Stop right there," she sat up and looked past the back of the couch towards the front room, and indeed the pink haired teen was blanching over getting caught.

"What, exactly, are you planning to do with those car keys?" She raised a brow as she asked quietly; there was no need for Igneel to wake up and find out right now about his son's shenanigans, he could stay in the dark for now.

Natsu's tan skin looked a shade or two brighter as he tried to come up with a good enough excuse.

"I forgot… my-my wallet there!" He exclaimed.

Lucy snorted but immediately panicked when Igneel shifted in his sleep, she calmed when he settled back.

"Am I supposed to actually believe that?" She whisper-yelled at the teen with a frown on her face.

He huffed, "Would it kill you to pretend you didn't see me and just let me go?"

"Natsu!"

"…"

" _Natsu."_

"Tch, fine; but when Gray and Gajeel hit me later it'll be on you." Natsu was never going to admit that as much as Luce was an awesome stepmom, she was a terrifying woman and he was scared to his very core sometimes when she was out for his blood, and so were Gray and Gajeel.

Natsu turned to go back upstairs when an incredible idea popped into his mind – he could just climb out of his window like he used to do as a kid!

"Wait," _damn it! Please don't say what I think you're going to say, please don't say what I think you're going to say!_ He thought.

"Give me the keys."

 _This is so unfair!_

()()  
(O.O)

 **Hello there people of this fandom~!**

 **I should totally be working on my LaLu week submissions (number 6 is almost finished and number 7 is so far from finished I feel like crying), but I wasn't very LaLu inspired, and then I remembered that one time when Maiokoe and I talked about this little plot bunny and I just had to write it down and post it immediately!**

 **This will never be 'Maiokoe-canon', she thinks Lucy will kill Natsu for street racing (and she's right too), but she used their Edo-selves and that meant Natsu had to love driving and I just can't let go of car-racing-Natsu! Until now, that is~**

 **I need to go back to LaLu now. Or study for my Bible Studies semi-final. The latter is probably more important, but fanfiction is my life and I'm an atheist and why is this subject mandatory?!**

 **I need more hours in a day, 24 is no longer enough~**


	3. Intuition

" _Natsu!_ " Igneel cursed under his breath as he stumbled over another toy. Couldn't the kid put his toys away every once in a while? Or at least not leave them in the middle of the hall where anyone could trip over them?

Letting go of his anger, the redhead walked into his son's room quietly. Last night Natsu was feeling a little sick, he even went to bed early, and Igneel had a bad feeling about that.

Women might have 'mothers' intuition', but he was a single dad, and he was sure he could teach those mothers a thing or two about intuition.

Silently, he walked towards the bed in the opposite corner from the door, careful not to wake the slumbering kid. Natsu's face was a bit flushed, and his sleep seemed to be restless as he shivered under his blanket. Igneel pressed a hand to his son's forehead and a few seconds later his hopes were crushed – the skin was way too hot for Natsu to be healthy.

The single father rushed down the stairs to the kitchen and quickly filled a bowl with water and a cloth, then rushed back up the stairs to gently put the wet cloth against the kid's forehead.

Igneel pondered what to do next as he ran his fingers through Natsu's soft hair. "Dad?"

The redhead glanced at Natsu's face to see that the kid awakened, and he was looking up at him confused. "Hey there, how do you feel?"

The pink haired boy blinked groggily, "It's really hot."

Igneel kept his expression neutral, but on the inside worry started to rage within. "You have a fever," he told the nine year old, "you definitely won't be getting out of bed today."

Natsu's dark orbs stayed as dazed as before, even the thought of missing school didn't pull him out of his sick mood. "I'll be back in a minute; I just need to sort a few things, okay?"

Too weak to answer, the little boy's eyes closed, and his father escaped the room, snatching the first phone his eyes laid upon. It wasn't his cellphone which meant Igneel had to strain his memory to recall the correct order of digits as fast as he could. He tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for his call to be answered.

"Hello?"

Igneel's lips curled upwards slightly, happy to hear the woman's voice at that moment more than ever before. "Good morning Sunshine."

"Uch, Igneel, please tell me you didn't call me at 7 in the morning on Tuesday just to flirt." Lucy's irritated voice sounded from the other side of the line.

"Have some faith in me Beautiful, I apologize if I interrupted your beauty sleep, but you don't need it anyways."

He heard her sigh over the phone, and his previous tilt of the lips turned into a tiny smirk. "Igneel, get to the point."

"I need your help with Natsu today." He started.

"I figured as much. Do you want me to pick him up from school?"

The redhead bit his lip. "Actually… Natsu won't be going to school today, he has a fever."

"… Igneel, what are you asking me to do?"

"You see, the thing is, I have a meeting today, a very important meeting I can't miss or cancel, so I can't stay here with Natsu, so I thought-"

"You thought 'hey, my neighbor doesn't have to go to work, maybe _she_ could take care of my kid for me?"

"Exactly!" he grinned into the phone.

"And what makes you think I'll do it? Maybe I have plans."

"Uh… I haven't thought that far ahead yet." He admitted.

She sighed again, "You are so lucky it's unbelievable. Fine, I'll do it. Just let me get dressed, I'll be at your place in thirty minutes or so."

 **LuneelLuneelLuneelLuneelLuneelLuneel**

Twenty five minutes later Igneel heard a knock on the door and hurried to the front door, swinging the door open and not caring in what state of dress he was.

Lucy, however, did care. "Igneel, where is your shirt?!"

Igneel took in the sight of her flushed cheeks and embarrassed expression as the blonde tried to look anywhere but at him; a hard task to do since he was right in front of her, only one foot away.

"You angel!" he hugged her tightly to his chest, and then suddenly released her and jogged upstairs to bring his oxford shirt, vest and tie before he started talking.

Lucy would never admit it, but the entire speech he gave her about why he didn't have a shirt on when he opened the door went in through one ear and left through the other just as quickly – who knew men could be this fit at 39?

"… If he asks for Pop Tarts say no, unless he eats his lunch, and then only one. You should-"

Lucy cut him off, having memorized the speech after a year and a half of babysitting Natsu at many odd times, "Aren't you late for some very important meeting?"

Igneel paused, stared at her, then grabbed his keys quickly on his way to the door. Halfway out of the house he turned around and went back to Lucy. What he did next surprised probably more than it should have – he kissed her cheek and whispered "thank you," and dashed out the open front door.

Lucy was frozen in her place, too shocked to move. She finally shook it off with only one single thought in her mind: 'Igneel is so weird sometimes.'

 **()()**  
 **(O.O)**

 **Word count: 919**

 **Hi people of this fandom! I updated too! I admit I sorta guilt tripped Maiokoe into updating (which worked), but I didn't mean to! It was honestly an accident!**

 **This chapter happened because I feel like shit for the past week, I need to submit two works for tomorrow, which I haven't started yet, and it's currently 11:40 pm, so it won't happen either. Oops?**

 **Also, I'm considering writing a second part to this, but I have a lot of other stories waiting to be written, and I'm working really hard on my Lalu story Renegade Star.**

 **To the lovely arsenicgrace, I can't PM you because you're a guest so I will answer right here: thank you so much, I don't think my writing is that great (especially considering that this story is usually written when I'm about to drop late at night), but - again – thank you~!**

 **I won't be writing Luneel's wedding here for two reasons: first, weddings are Maiokoe's thing, I don't really like wedding (go bother her and make her update!). Second, this fic is meant for the things Maiokoe won't write in her fic, this is basically a fanfic to a fanfic. She lets me write my own plotlines, headcanons, and ideas here using the AU world she thought of. We already planned their wedding (sort of) so you'll just have to wait until she posts it (in the very far future)**


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